An American company has provided a new service that allows users to have a new experience in visual communication, and to see the opposite party as if they are standing in front of you thanks to hologram technology.
The device - made by PORTL - allows users to speak in real time with another person using a life-size hologram of the person.
Machines can also be equipped with technology to enable interaction with recorded holograms of historical figures or relatives who have died.
Each portel device is seven feet (2.1 meters) long, five feet (1.5 meters) wide, and two feet (0.6 meters) deep and can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. Anyone with a camera and a white background can send a hologram to the device called "Holoportin".
"We say if you weren't there, you could broadcast there," said David Nussbaum, chief executive of Portel, who previously worked for a company that developed a 3D image of former US President Ronald Reagan and rapper Tupac Shakur.
"We are able to connect military families who have not seen each other in months, or people across oceans," he added.
Machine prices start at $ 60,000, a cost Nussbaum expects to decline over the next three to five years. The company also plans to manufacture a smaller, more affordable laptop computer early next year.
The devices can be equipped with artificial intelligence technology from the Los Angeles-based StoryFile to produce hologram recordings that can be archived. Adding this to the current device brings the cost to at least $ 85,000.
The companies are promoting museums, which could allow visitors to learn about historical figures through a hologram, and Story File CEO Heather Smith said people can feel as though they are having a conversation with a recorded hologram.
"(You) feel their presence, you see their body language, you see all their nonverbal cues ... you feel as if you actually spoke to this person even though he was not there," she added.